A petition from some Palestinian human rights activists

Here is a translation of the petition on behalf of Palestinian refugees in Iraq. We would like to thank you and thank your aides for expressing an interest in this petition and appeal.

Sincerely,

Thaer and Sheila Abdallah

A petition from some Palestinian human rights activists and their supporters protesting the latest attacks by Iraqi government forces from the (Iraqi Ministry of the Interior) at the Palestinian community residences in Al-Baladiyat quarter of Baghdadand appealing for help.

As the Iraqi militias’ persecution against the Palestinian refugees in Iraq subsided after its peaks in 2006 and 2007, the remaining population of the Palestinian refugee community thought it was the end of violence and it would be possible to live again in Iraq with peace and dignity.However, things did not go in that direction, especially after the withdrawal of the American troops. A series of attacks by Iraqi forces (from the Ministry of the Interior) were unleashed against our refugee community in particular those resided at the Al-Baladiyat Quarter in Baghdad. These human rights violation include but are not limited to the following:

1.Arbitrary detentions without court issued warrants.

2.Arbitrary and violent searches of residences.

3.Recurrence of arbitrary and unreasonable crack-downs.

4.Insults and disrespect during each search and attack.

5.Unprecedented incitement and escalation behavior by some Iraqi media outlets.

6.Propaganda and allegations that Palestinians acquire weapons and ammunition to target Iraqi Shiites.

7.Torture of detainees to coerce false confessions.

8.Denigration of detainees before their families and neighbors.

9.Identification of a Palestinian youth corpse showing ruthless signs of torture in a morgue.

The above represents a grave departure from the [international] conventions towards treating Palestinian refugees. While the Iraqi sectarian militias used to use such direct methods of persecution as targeted assassinations, kidnappings as well as mortar attacks against the Palestinian refugee community, the current methods have been perpetrated under the guise of anti-terrorism laws and are being carried out by Iraqi government forces.This is to intimidate and force what remained of the Palestinian refugees to move out of the Al-Baladiyat residential complex into yet another wave of tragic exile.

We, a group of Palestinian activists, notables, academics, media professionals, and supporters, attest to the fact that the Palestinian community in Iraq is naught but a guest welcomed by the Iraqi people. We are not and do not seek to be involved in the political and sectarian affairs of the country.We only look forward to the day when we return to our beloved homeland, Palestine. As such, we request that the government of Iraq abide by its obligation to:

1.Provide full protection for the Palestinian refugee community in Baghdad according to the Geneva Convention.

2.Release all of the Palestinian detainees and/or enable them to have transparent and just trials in court while making public the conditions in which they are detained and treated. Exonerate those acquitted and pay them their due reparations.

3.Stop all kinds of anti-Palestinian incitement and propaganda in the media as well as in the streets.

We also call on the following entities to take part in documenting, relieving, and stopping all kinds of violations against the Palestinian refugee community in Iraq, especially Baghdad.

P.S. We would like everyone viewing this petition to pass it on to all kinds of media outlets, human rights and relief organizations, Palestinian Authority and factions, as well as social websites and networks.

مواضيع ذات صلة

التعليقات 5

Dr. Nabil Abdul Kadir DEEB.GERMANY.Bonn
The Practices of the recent terrorist acts of the Iraqi government agencies against the Palestine Refugees in Baghdad must be a part of the work of the Arab League in the next summit in Bagdad.
The Arab League and the Arab peoples are still appeals to Iraqi and international protection of Palestinian refugees in Iraq and give them their rights to social life.
Refugees Palestinians have become in Iraq and if they were excluded from the rights established by international law on refugees and guarantees called for in the Declaration of Human Rights and do not have, according to those interpretations, within the system and international law for any system to ensure their rights like the refugees of others, not only have access to low level of aid only , all reflecting the weakness in the work of deliberate human rights mechanisms, United Nations, and the contradiction between a legal interpretation of the UNHCR and other international legislation relating to the rights of Palestinian refugees and human rights in general.
The issue of Palestinian refugees and one of the leading phenomena of refugees in the twentieth century, but perhaps the most tragic event in refugee issues in the world, wherein mixing factors of religious nationalism and humanitarian legality and existential, which turns the issue of chronic exceeded its chapters the Palestinian cause to form a concern internationally, regionally and nationally, as it is obsession affects the entire Palestinian people:
Based on the norms of international law of human rights, the right of refugees to return to the home of basic human rights, inalienable rights, which are not subject to bargaining, and compromise and that do not fall, they are linking him to the ground, which had forced to leave the cause of justification, that the has the right to return to the home immediately after the demise of the reason.
Human beings are born free and honor has no human beings had the right of derogation would and worth and dignity inherent in it, and as the human nature in human beings requires and must respect the dignity of any form of insult, humiliation, degradation and promotion, the fact that this constitutes a guarantee of access to case luxury of justice and tolerance is essential for the stability and peaceful coexistence between humans.
Dr. Nabil Abdul Kadir DEEB.PMI.GERMANY.Bonn
doctor.nabilabdulkadirdeeb@googlemail.com